Sara Cwynar in CBC Arts

July 20, 2026

The artist rewriting the ABCs for an era of infinite scrolling

By: Chris Hampton

One hundred years ago, German theorist Aby Warburg began assembling his legendary Bilderatlas Mnemosyne. The art historian aggregated newspaper clippings, ads, photos of ancient statues, postcards, stamps, coins and reproductions of Renaissance paintings — more than 1,000 objects in total — to trace the evolution of visual motifs from antiquity to modern times.

“It looks like an early Google image search,” says multimedia artist Sara Cwynar.

At the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto, a sprawling photo installation inspired by Warburg’s unfinished Bilderatlas opens a major exhibition by the Vancouver-born, New York-based Cwynar. Her Alpha/Alphabet develops an ABC of contemporary visual culture for the age of infinite scrolling — when “extremely online” has become a factory setting.

To read the full article visit CBC Arts.

For more information about Sara Cwynar please contact the gallery:

info@coopercolegallery.com

+1.416.531.8000

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